Costa Rica

Organization responsible for the statistics

Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) (National Social Security Institute).

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Accident notifications submitted to the INS and the statistical information programme on occupational risks and health.

Coverage

Persons:

Workers covered by the INS.

In 1996, approximately 687,000 workers were covered (60 per cent of the working population).

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors.

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

Compensated injuries due to all types of occupational accidents, including commuting accidents and occupational diseases.

Concepts and definitions

Not available.

Minimum period of absence from work: none.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

permanent disability, death, severe invalidity;

(c) economic activity:

according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Revision 2, by major division;

(d) occupation:

professionals and technicians, managers, clerks, merchants, agricultural workers, cattle breeders, fishery workers, drivers, craft workers (labourers), other craft workers, day labourers, personal service workers;

(e) type of injury:

not available;

(f) cause of accident:

railway accidents; traffic accidents; non-traffic-related vehicle accidents; accidents involving pedal-driven vehicles and vehicles pulled by animals; water transport accidents; air transport accidents; accidental poisonings with medicines or drugs; accidental poisonings with other solids or liquids (6 groups); accidental falls (4 groups); accidents caused by fire; accidents due to natural and environmental factors; accidents due to submersion, suffocation or foreign bodies; other accidents (6 groups); delayed effects of accidental injuries; adverse reactions to drugs or medicines; self-inflicted injuries; injuries inflicted by others; accidents due to legal interventions; accidental or non-accidental injuries; injuries resulting from war operations; unspecified origin;

(h) characteristics of workers:

age (unknown; under 15 years; from 15 to 65 years, by five-year age brackets; 65 years or older); sex;

(i) characteristics of accidents:

time of occurrence (specific hour);

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

not available;

(k) other:

province where accident occurred.

Reference period

Year.

Estimates

Totals.

Variations from one year to the next.

Rates:

incidence rate: number of accidents per thousand workers at risk;
frequency rate: number of accidents per million hours worked;
severity rate: days of disability per thousand hours of exposure to risk;
average duration rate: average number of days of disability per accident.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Number of occupational injuries, by:
- severity and days of disability;
- economic activity and province;
- external cause and economic activity;
- time of occurrence and economic activity;
- economic activity and occupation;
- age and sex;
- age and occupation;
- economic activity and severity;
Number of days of disability granted.

Bibliographic references:

Provisional data are published in:

Instituto Nacional de Seguros: Estadísticas seguro de riesgos del trabajo (annual).

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished regularly to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics relating to compensated injuries (including commuting accidents and occupational diseases) according to major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays; rates of fatal injuries. The number of persons at risk (total number of insured workers) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.